Siehe auch:

EPO and Logica to introduce world leading patent management system

Leider ist diese Seite derzeit nicht in deutscher Sprache verfügbar.

19 April 2012

Logica CEO Andy Green with EPO President Benoît Battistelli

The EPO and Logica have announced an important project that will contribute to
significantly reducing costs and improving timeliness for the patenting process
in Europe. Logica and the EPO are set to
introduce one of the most advanced, fully digital patent offices in the world,
enabling applicants and inventors to register their patents and all concerned
in processing them in a more efficient and cost effective way.

Under the agreement Logica will help the EPO establish a comprehensive,
secure and innovative case management system, that will digitally process
patent applications at all stages of the patent grant process including:

Patent
searching

Filing the
application with the Office

Publication

Substantive
examination

The handling
of legal remedies, such as opposition and appeal

EPO President Benoît Battistelli said: "The European Patent Office has a vital role to play in
driving the knowledge economy by enabling organisations to benefit quickly and
profitably from investment in research and development. The objective of the agreement
with Logica is to modernise our IT infrastructure in a way that not only
benefits the EPO through a more streamlined grant process, but will also allow companies,
researchers and inventors to realise important efficiency gains when using the
patent system."

Andy Green, Chief
Executive Officer of Logica, said: "Innovation is
vital to the wider European economy and individual businesses' ability to
compete in the global marketplace. Europe faces growing competition from the BRIC
countries, and established powerhouses like the USA. Our partnership with the EPO
is an example of how we are helping to break down the barriers to creativity
and to create a more effective innovation ecosystem."

The knowledge-based patent management system will help both those filing
a patent application and those overseeing it, through every stage of the
process. According to EPO estimates, the new system will reduce the number of
applicant-Office interactions significantly which could result in annual savings
of tens of millions of euros for the user community.

The new case management system will replace almost all of the EPO
automated processes that currently exist. It will support the filing of 250,000
patent applications the EPO receives annually, plus the electronic handling of
some 2.5 million transactions being processed.

Under the current plan, some users will begin using the new process
for filing as early as April 2013. The project will then be rolled out
gradually until 2015. National patent offices in Europe
will also benefit from this project, through plans to offer them the new online
filing tool under the EPO's co-operation policy with its 38 member states.